By PATRICK CASEY
The Ponce de Leon Lady Pirates closed out the regular season with a road win in Freeport followed by a Homecoming victory over South Walton on Saturday night to post an 18-6 mark heading into the District 1, Class A tournament which is hosted by the Pirates later this week.
The Pirates faced off against the Bulldogs on Jan. 22 and posted their first win in three tries as the visiting team connected on 10 shots from behind the three-point line while slowing down the host squad’s shooting prowess.
Freeport led 20-19 after the first quarter as senior Laura Ham scored all 12 of her points in the game in the opening frame using long-distance shooting.
Ponce de Leon countered with senior Delilah Bass and freshman Micala Fisanick combining for five shots behind the arc while shooting 13-of-28 as a team from the field to rally for a 36-31 halftime lead.
Fisanick helped the visiting team hold the lead in the third quarter by scoring eight of her 23 points during that time as the Bulldogs struggled to make shots and grab offensive rebounds. The Pirates ran the lead up to 53-44 after 24 minutes of competition as Katie and Megan O’Neal attempted to lead a comeback.
The Pirates would not allow the lead to slip away as Devyn Butorac scored five of her 11 points in the final quarter while Bass finished with 20, helping her team to a 16-of-22 performance from the free throw line by making 8-of-10 from the charity stripe.
The Pirates connected on 26-of-53 shots from the field while the Bulldogs hit only 21-of-62. Megan led the way with 26 points while Katie added 17 but the Bulldogs could not match the hot-shooting Pirates as they added a defensive intensity to the contest that Freeport could not garner.
Against South Walton, PDL jumped out to a 32-9 lead at the half and coasted to a sweep of the regular season series with a 49-21 victory. Bass led the way with 14 points in front of a large Homecoming crowd that will likely be present when this week’s district tournament hosts semi-final contests on Thursday night at 6 and 7:30 p.m.
Freeport rebounded from the loss with a Saturday night victory at Poplar Springs, 49-44 to end the regular season with a 19-3 mark.
Team Notes: PDL handed Freeport its worst loss of the regular season and is one of only two teams to score more than 60 points against the Bulldogs so far this season. Holmes County was the other squad to do so in a 78-71 loss in Freeport on Jan.5. Tim Alford is in his 20th season at the helm of the Pirates’ program and holds a mark of 435-160. The Pirates have had 13 consecutive winning seasons. Mike Myrick is in his 16h year as the girls coach at Freeport and holds a mark of 175-230 in that time.
